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Power Rangers Zeo
Power Rangers Zeo (often abbreviated as PRZ, and often simply called Zeo) is an American superhero television series and the second installment of the Power Rangers franchise that is a continuation of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, that aired in 1996. It is based on the Super Sentai series Chōriki Sentai Ohranger. Power Rangers Zeo is also the first season of Power Rangers to follow the Sentai practice of annual Ranger suit changes. Plot Power Rangers Zeo begins immediately after the events of Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers where Tommy Oliver and the other Rangers witness the destruction of the Command Center. After recovering, the powerless Rangers discover the Zeo Crystal intact in the rubble – apparently dropped by Goldar and Rito Revolto. The Zeo Crystal guided them to a portal, which takes them deep underground to the heretofore unmentioned Power Chamber. There, they found Zordon and Alpha 5 waiting for them. The team is bestowed with the five Zeonizers empowered by the Zeo Crystal. Tanya Sloan joins the team as Zeo Ranger II — Yellow, while Billy Cranston chooses to become their technical advisor, rather than continue being a Ranger. These events occur as the Machine Empire entered Earth's solar system. So powerful, even Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd are forced to flee from them to the M51 Galaxy with the threat of being destroyed. Led by King Mondo and Queen Machina, the Machine Empire seeks to conquer Earth. Armed with new weapons and Zords, only the Zeo Rangers stand in their way. Unbeknown to anyone, Rito and Goldar – now amnesic – are left behind on Earth. They are taken in by Bulk and Skull, who have them serving at their beck and call. Bulk and Skull, meanwhile, continue to be members of the Junior Police Force until Lt. Stone is dismissed. Quitting as a show of support, they join him at his new detective agency. Over time, the Machine Empire began wearing down the five Zeo Rangers. Help arrives in the form of the mysterious Gold Ranger. No one knows who he is and while suspicion abounded, it is clear he is there to help the Rangers. It turns out that the Gold Ranger was an alien, Trey of Triforia. This revelation comes after he is injured in battle. Split into three separate selves, Trey is forced to temporarily pass on his powers to a worthy warrior while healing. They attempted to transfer the Gold Ranger powers to Billy; but are unable to because Billy has acquired a large amount of negative energy due to the destruction of the Command Center. The ultimate successor is Jason Lee Scott, the original Red Power Ranger. This event also sees the introduction of the more powerful Super Zeozords, which were used against a tougher generation of machines. The Super Zeo Megazord is powerful enough to even later destroy King Mondo, creating a power vacuum in the Machine Empire. The Ranger helmets this season also serves a different significance than in the other seasons with the visor being shaped as mouths for animals and dinosaurs, windshields for cars or shield shapes. The visors represent the number of the Ranger. For instance, when Tommy morphs, he proclaims, "Zeo Ranger Five, Red!" Once his helmet is formed the shape of his visor, a star with the same number of points as his Ranger number, is shown. Secretly returning from the M51 Galaxy, Lord Zedd and Rita seek to become top villains again. Operating out of an RV with Finster, they first restore Goldar and Rito's memories. After King Mondo is destroyed, they launch their first plan: use Louie Kaboom to take over the Machine Empire. Though he succeeds, he breaks free of Zedd and Rita's control. He embarks on his own plans to conquer Earth and destroy the Zeo Rangers. Louie is eventually destroyed by the machinations of Prince Gasket and Princess Archerina, who rule until King Mondo's reconstruction is complete and causes them to flee. When Billy began rapidly aging, the Zeo and Aquitian Rangers race to help him, as well as combat monsters from both King Mondo and Rita. Billy leaves Earth for treatment on Aquitar and chooses to stay to be with Cestria. Soon afterwards, it is discovered Jason can no longer handle having the Gold Ranger powers. They are leaving his body and draining his lifeforce in the process. Trey is still in recovery, but a risky gambit heals and restores the powers to him. Rita and Lord Zedd finally gain revenge on the Machine Empire by crippling their leaders with a bomb. Characters The Zeo Rangers ;Thomas "Tommy" Oliver: Zeo Ranger V; previously the Green Ranger, then the White Ranger and White Ninja Ranger. He found his Zeo Crystal in the past in the American Southwest. Wears a red suit with a star-shaped visor on his helmet. He was portrayed by Jason David Frank. ;Adam Park: Zeo Ranger IV; formerly the second Black Ranger and Black Ninja Ranger. He found his Zeo Crystal in the past in Korea. Wears a green suit with a rectangular visor. He was portrayed by Johnny Yong Bosch. ;Rocky DeSantos: Zeo Ranger III; formerly the second Red Ranger and Red Ninja Ranger. He found his Zeo Crystal in the past in Mexico. He was second-in-command until Jason returned. Wears a blue suit with a triangular visor on his helmet. He was portrayed by Steve Cardenas. ;Tanya Sloan: Zeo Ranger II, the only new member of the core group. When Aisha went for her Zeo Crystal in the past in Africa, she decided that she wanted to help the animals who were sick, and sent Tanya back with the Zeo Crystal in her place. Initially returning as a teenager, the Zeo Crystal made Tanya the same age as the other Rangers, which she gradually got used to. Wears a yellow suit with two horizontal lines for a visor on her helmet. She was portrayed by Nakia Burrise. ;Katherine "Kat" Hillard : Zeo Ranger I; formerly the second Pink Ranger and second Pink Ninja Ranger. She found her Zeo Crystal in the past in Australia. Wears a pink suit with a circular visor on her helmet. She was portrayed by Catherine Sutherland. ;Trey of Triforia: The original Gold Ranger. The prince of planet Triforia, a planet where everyone has identical triplets. He gave the Zeo Rangers their Super Zeozords when he had to leave to his planet, again. The Gold Ranger wears a black suit with a golden vest and has a visor shaped like the kanji for "king". He was portrayed by Ted, Tim and Tom DiFillippo and voiced by Brad Hawkins in his first appearances. ;Jason Lee Scott: The second Gold Ranger; formerly the original Red Ranger. When Trey of Triforia had to return to his home planet, Tommy went and found Jason to take the place of the Gold Ranger while he was gone. He becomes second-in-command upon his return. He was portrayed by Austin St. John. Allies ;Alien Rangers ;Zordon: Voiced by Robert L. Manahan. ;Alpha 5: Voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz (credited as Richard Wood). ;Billy Cranston: Portrayed by David Yost. ;Emily: Portrayed by Lesley Tesh-Petersen. ;Ernie: Portrayed by Richard Genelle. ;Farkus "Bulk" Bulkmeier: Portrayed by Paul Schrier. ;Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch: Portrayed by Jason Narvy. ;Lt./Det. Jerome B. Stone: Portrayed by Gregg Bullock. ;David Truehart: Tommy's brother. Portrayed by the late Eric Frank, Jason David Frank's real-life brother. ;Cestria: ;Auric the Conqueror: Voiced by Derek Stephen Prince (uncredited). ;Tritor: Portrayed by Koichi Sakamoto and voiced by Paul St. Peter (both uncredited). Villains Machine Empire ;King Mondo: Voiced by David Stenstrom. ;Queen Machina: Voiced by Alex Borstein. ;Prince Sprocket: Voiced by Barbara Goodson. ;Orbus: Voiced by Barbara Goodson. ;Klank: Voiced by Oliver Page. ;Prince Gasket: Voiced by Douglas Sloan (uncredited). ;Archerina: Voiced by Melora Harte (uncredited). ;Louie Kaboom: Voiced by Lex Lang (uncredited). ;Cogs: Rita & Zedd ;Lord Zedd: Portrayed by Edwin Neal (credited as Ed Neil) and voiced by Robert Axelrod. ;Rita Repulsa: Portrayed by Carla Perez and voiced by Barbara Goodson. ;Finster: Voiced by Robert Axelrod. ;Rito Revolto: Voiced by the late Bob Papenbrook. ;Goldar: Voiced by Kerrigan Mahan. ;Squatt and Baboo: Voiced by Michael Sorich and Dave Mallow. Zords Billy and Alpha 5 built the Zeozords after the rangers lost their powers, with the ones that Ninjazords and Shogunzords were rendered dormant. The Red Battlezord was created using Battle Borg technology, and can only be controlled telepathically by Tommy (but was once configured for Adam's use yet with setbacks). Pyramidas was the Gold Zeo Ranger's Zord, and acted as a Carrier Zord. Trey of Triforia also supplied the Zeo Rangers with the Super Zeozords and the Warrior Wheel for the Gold Ranger. All Zeozords were abandoned and kept in storage in the Zeozord holding bay (except for Pyramidas, which Trey brought with him when he left). Identity of the Gold Ranger Throughout a good part of Power Rangers Zeo, a constant teaser was the identity of the Gold Ranger. After many episodes of speculation, it was revealed the Gold Ranger was in fact a new character never seen before, Trey of Triforia, basically turning all other hints into red herrings. Former Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott obtains the powers of the Gold Ranger after Trey loses the ability to transform. Actor Brad Hawkins, who played one of the main characters on similar show VR Troopers, voiced the Gold Ranger early on. Saban had allegedly planned to use him after the end of VR Troopers in another role. However, for unknown reasons (believed to be scheduling conflicts), he was not used as the identity of the Gold Ranger, with Ted, Tim and Tom DiFillippo instead portraying the three parts of Trey. Additional candidates for the Gold Ranger's identity included: *'Billy Cranston' was a constant candidate for the identity of the Gold Ranger. When the original identity of the Ranger was still unknown, Billy would consistently disappear, leading fans to believe he was leaving to transform into the Gold Ranger. This proved to be false, however, and it is theorized that Billy was actually busy designing the Turbo powers for the following season. When it came time for someone to take the Gold Ranger's powers, Billy is the obvious choice. However, due to absorbing a high amount of 'negative ions' from the season finale of the previous season, he was unable to take the Gold Ranger powers. It is rumored that the real reason that Billy was not made the Gold Ranger was that it was unsure if his actor, David Yost, was going to stay on the show until the end, because of problems backstage with Yost and the cast and crew. *'David Trueheart' Tommy's brother on the show, introduced during the episode "Challenges" who was not only trained in martial arts, but already knew the identities of the other Power Rangers. And in the episode "Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise", after he and Tommy save Kat from toxic Cog oil, he disappears right before the Gold Ranger joins the Rangers in battle and returns later commenting he had "something to take care of". There was some rumor that he was the original Gold Ranger, however, there was even wider speculation that he was the candidate Tommy was trying to bring to the Command Center to accept the Gold Ranger's powers. This was further fuelled by the fact that while disguised, Jason looked a lot like like David, leading fans to believe he was purposely introduced to be a red herring. *'Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch', in the episode A Small Problem, Skull mysteriously disappears from Bulk's side when the two are near the Power Rangers, with the Gold Ranger shortly thereafter appearing to save Tommy and Kat. Then shortly after once the threat is neutralized, the Gold Ranger appears before Bulk, who had blurry vision at the time. But after Bulk rubs his eyes a few times, the Gold Ranger disappears and he sees Skull running toward him who claimed to have gone for a walk. This was the only case where Skull, a long-time comic relief character, was a suspect. Episodes Comics Image Comics began publication of a Power Rangers Zeo comic in August 1996. It featured scripts by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, and art by Todd Nauck and Norm Rapmund. Four issues were drawn but only one was released before Image Comics lost the license.Comic By Comic: Rich Interviews Todd Nauck References External links * "Power Rangers Zeo" at Fox Kids (Archive) * Category:Superhero television programs Zeo Category:1990s American television series Category:Fox network shows Category:Fox Kids Category:Science fantasy television series Category:1996 American television series debuts Category:1996 American television series endings Category:Television shows set in California Category:Power Rangers Zeo